A retraction: Gay Republican staffer recants his claim of being assaulted

Last week, I reported on The Daily Caller that Kyle Wood, a gay Republican campaign volunteer, claimed he was hospitalized for his sexuality and political activism. Yesterday evening, however, Kyle recanted his story, according to Madison police. According to The Daily Page, Wood recanted after concerns were raised by police about threatening texts Wood claimed were from the partner of the opponent of the congressional candidate for whom Wood volunteers. The Daily Page reports that Captain Joe Balles of the South District Madison Police Department says the texts never took place.

It now is clear that Kyle lied to me, to other reporters, and to the thousands of people who read my article and the many follow-up blog posts and articles by others. Having known Kyle for a number of months, and spent a number of hours examining his claims, I believed he was telling me the truth and submitted an article to The Daily Caller.

Though it was not my intent, I reported an inaccurate story, as well as an inaccurate follow-up blog post at Right Wing News and in the Hot Air Green Room. I apologize to all readers for being taken in by Wood. His dishonesty has caused harm to the reputations of many respectable individuals and organizations that believed his story, including me.

I have reached out to Wood for an explanation about this whole debacle, but he is not answering e-mails, has deleted his Facebook account, and is not answering his phone.